Vive le coq's tail

Alcoholic mixed drink, the origin of whose name (cock's tail) is the subject of a number of different versions. The best-known version is derived from cockfighting, which was popular in the south of the USA in the mid-19th century. The tail feathers of the losing rooster were torn off and given to the owner of the winner. The victory and the trophy won were then sealed with a drink "on the cock's tail". Later, the drink was simply called a cocktail. A second version dates back to the US War of Independence in 1777, when Betsy Flanagan, a pub landlady in New England, favoured entertaining rebel soldiers. One evening, she mixed a drink of fruit juice and rum, which she decorated with a feather. This had previously been the centrepiece of a British soldier's cockerel. A young French rebel officer honoured the composition with the words: Vive le coq's tail! (Long live the cockerel's tail).

A third version is based on drinks that are not mixed, but consist of layered, differently coloured liqueurs (pousse-cafés). This results in an image similar to the rooster's tail. A fourth version is based on the "Sazerac" drink made from whisky and absinthe, which was served in "coquetiers" (egg cups) in New Orleans. A bastardisation turned it into "cocktail". A fifth version tells the story of a bar somewhere in the USA that was furnished with a hollow ceramic tap. At the end of the day, the barman poured all the leftover drinks through an opening in the tap. The next day, he sold the mixture at a special price by tapping it from the tap's tail, which was designed as a tap. As a result, more and more people ordered what soon became known as the cocktail. And a sixth version says that the...